In 2023, jazzman announced he would be shelving his saxophone for the foreseeable future. A consequential decision, it meant the end of his and , two of the three groups that established his reputation. In November 2022, he foreshadowed that assertion with , recorded mostly solo on shakuhachi, flute, and clarinet. He followed it in 2023 with the mysterious jazz/hip-hop offering by on . was recorded by at 's studio in New Jersey in 2022. Unlike anything he's released yet, uses wits and intuition to summon this music up from his unconscious. He's assisted by a studio cast that includes pianists , drummers , flutist , percussionist , harpists , bassists , multi-instrumentalist , , and vocalists. "End of Innocence" finds playing clarinet with , and ; the brief incantation sounds like a folk song. "As the Planet and Stars Collapse" places his lilting shakuhachi in lush company with both harpists and 's strings. On "Insecurities," 's elastic falsetto engages the flute in seamless improvisation with 's harp. uses a quena flute on the gently abstract "Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become" with and South Africans on piano and on synth. New York rapper joins , the harpists -- who all engage with 's flute line by line -- and electronicist on the poignant "Body to Inhabit." "I'll Do Whatever You Want" is the closest thing to a fully improvised jam here. It showcases 's Teotihuacan drone flute alongside 's shakuhachi, a Rhodes Chroma by 's guitar, and 's and 's basses, with 's drums and 's percussion framing a wordless vocal from . "Living" offers transcendent holism as 's Slavic svirel (a Russian flute) and 's vocal entwine, ratcheting tension with -esque intensity while keenly interacting with harps and strings. The saxophone does make an appearance on "Breathing" alongside the flute and clarinet. The tune is a virtuosic duet with 's mridangam in improvised call-and-response. on "Kiss Me Before I Forget," the closest thing to a pop-jazz ballad here. 's father, the Barbados-born singer -- who worked with -- offers poetry on set-closer "Song of the Motherland," a paean to the glory of Blackness amid overdubbed flute lines and 's glissando harp playing. There isn't anything incendiary or fiery about . Its gentle, warm production and unhurried playing are deceptive: These tunes, as rendered, are far more complex in arrangement and presentation than they appear. Combined, they reveal the artist's pursuit of creative excellence as an aesthetic practice with a spiritual dimension. ~ Thom Jurek